Matt had three seconds to capture the perfect shot. He nailed it

Photographer Matthew Smith was halfway through a gruelling 28-day expedition on a small yacht from South America to Antarctica when a seal looked directly down the barrel of his camera for just three seconds. A few clicks of the shutter later, Smith instantly knew he had captured the perfect shot.

While the wildlife photographer is accustomed to shooting pictures of humpback whales feeding on krill, as well as the countless penguin species in the Antarctic Peninsula, it was this chance encounter with a curious seal who wandered right up to their yacht that caught Smith by surprise.

“We were just sailing in to anchor up for the night, but this leopard seal started following us because they’re really curious, obviously predatory animals,” he said.

“The seal went around the yacht, sticking his head up and looking at us, so I pulled on my dry suit, got my camera all set up and slipped into the water. It started interacting with me quite curiously, and I went up over there where I probably spent half an hour to 45 minutes. It was a really calm interaction.“

Among the almost 60,000 other entries submitted, this shot of an inquisitive seal was the 2024 winner of the underwater picture category in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Other wildlife photos from the annual event will also be showcased at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney from May 15.

Wildlife photographer Matthew Smith journeyed through the treacherous Drake Passage, notorious for its powerful currents, high winds, and unpredictable weather, to get to Antarctica.Credit: Matthew Smith

“It takes months and months to be able to create unique shots like this. You’ve got to play by nature’s rules and not your own. You’ve just got to be there in the moment and be ready 24 hours a day to react to what’s going on around you, so it’s very tricky. It’s definitely a numbers game, and a game of patience,” Smith said.

After being crammed in with eight other people in an 18 metre long yacht, and working tirelessly around the clock, Smith said capturing the eventual shot felt incredibly rewarding.

“Once I got that photograph, I was really, really, happy. I could have stopped shooting for the rest of the trip. It was a very special moment. The opportunity didn’t arise again,” he said.

Smith said the “biggest driving force” behind his work is his hope to raise awareness about environmental issues and conservation efforts.

“I’m no scientist, but I am a picture maker. So for me to be able to make this beautiful imagery and bring it to the general public so the masses can see it, it creates a connection that this stuff really does exist, and it’s under threat.”

Justin Gilligan was another recipient of the award, winning the Oceans: The Bigger Picture category for his image of a record 403 pieces of plastic found inside the digestive tract of a dead flesh-footed shearwater on Lord Howe Island off the coast of NSW.

The multicoloured mosaic starkly contrasts the grisly image of the dead bird, which Gilligan hopes will hit home the scale of the issue.

“The plastic smells like food, the shearwaters can’t tell the difference,” Gilligan said. “If even a pristine island like [Lord Howe Island] can’t escape the impacts of plastic pollution, it really provides that sense of scale to the problem.”

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